Moneyball

Over the last decade there’s no doubt that football has superceded baseball and solidified itself as the most popular sport in the country. However, in the world of film America’s pastime still reigns supreme, carrying the lion’s share of great sports stories. It is perhaps due to what some consider to be baseball’s greatest weaknesses, such as lack of action and focus on the individual, that gives writers the ability to produce unparalleled screenplays in the genre. Moneyball is a different kind of sports film, which moves the story away from the stadium field and into its back offices. And even though it’s a baseball film primarily about payrolls, trading players and number crunching, the story still manages to keep the game at its heart, stating very poignantly “How can you not romanticize about baseball?”

Based on the book by Michael Lewis published in 2003, Moneyball centers around the story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt, Troy, Fight Club), general manager of the Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball franchise. Tired of building up a roster only to watch players flee from Oakland for larger markets and bigger paychecks, Beane searches for a new philosophy on how to construct a competitive team with the limited finances he has available. While discussing player trades in Cleveland, Beane notices top executives listening to the advice whispered by one very young employee, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill, Get Him to the Greek, Superbad). Beane corners Brand and amusingly interrogates him on just why a room full of highly paid "experts" are listening to a young kid who sits in a cubicle. After Brand explains he is a student of a new system using computers and overlooked statistics to evaluate a players true worth, Beane hires him to work as the assistant general manager for the Oakland A’s. The new philosophy spits directly in the face of experienced scouts and their historic methods for choosing players. When heavy criticism for signing players no other team would touch floods in from fans and media, Beane finds himself out on a limb with nothing in his corner but his convictions and Brand.

Much like he did with The Social Network, co-writer Aaron Sorkin is able to squeeze the drama out of the proverbial rock. Since this is a sports film more about the business of sports than the game itself, Sorkin's tone works flawlessly, amplifying the main character to make it seem like Beane's world is spinning 10 miles faster than everyone else around him. Furthermore, the brilliant intertwining of Beane's short-lived playing career throughout the story adds a compelling layer to the character, bringing the audience into Beane's mind and embodying his passionate drive to succeed.

Much like the baseball players in Moneyball, Brad Pitt has always been undervalued himself as an actor. Sure he's a superstar, but his pure talent has always come in second to his Hollywood persona. Moneyball should be a major step in reversing that trend, not to say Pitt has a shortage of fantastic performances already in his gallery. Roles like Tyler Durden in Fight Club and Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglorious Basterds may even present twice the challenge than playing someone like Billy Beane, but it's as Beane where for the first time Brad Pitt the superstar dissolves and only the character remains. Through simple inflection of his dialogue, Pitt enables the audience to feel the absolute angst and pressure of Beane’s situation and allows the viewer to erase the surface scenario of Brad Pitt trying to run a Major League Baseball team.

Also turning in a bar-setting performance is Jonah Hill as Beane’s assistant Peter Brand. Hill has managed to merge his awkward, undertone, deadpan humor into a great dramatic performance without having to sell himself short. Even though the character of Brand employs an intellect level which most people cannot relate to, Hill portrays him with an instant likeability and someone extremely easy to root for. Hill's chemistry with Pitt comes off as genuine and evolves at a real-world pace throughout the story. Hill is also responsible for a high percentage of the film's comedic moments which are able to mirror more of a real-life quality and refrain from going over-the-top to try and manufacture a laugh.

Other great actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) as the A’s manager Art Howe and Robin Wright (The Princess Bride) as Beane’s ex-wife Sharon round out the supporting cast, but the heart of the lineup are the actors who portrayed some of the real-life baseball players. Chris Pratt (Take Me Home Tonight) who plays pitcher Scott Hatteberg and Stephen Bishop (Friday Night Lights) as all-star David Justice, respectively insert very different angles of the player's perspective to what Beane was trying to accomplish.

Much like the concept of Moneyball itself, the film has been heavily criticized before it’s even had a chanced to be viewed. Many avid sports fans have lambasted the premise of a sports film being made about a system that supposedly failed. That premise could not be more of a fallacy as the film illustrates very prophetically that sometimes in life you can hit a home run and not even know it.



Story: 9.0
Acting: 9.5
Writing: 10.0
Captivation: 9.5
Replay Value: 8.5

Total = 9.3 out of 10

Seven Days in Utopia

Just about everyone loves a great sports film. Actually, just about everyone loves even a decent sports film. Even the most casual fanatic’s DVD collection will probably contain at least a copy of Rocky. Sports is a drama all its own, but once it’s magnified on the big screen, it allows for all the minute details that get overlooked in a live broadcast to take center stage. The game of golf is one of the sports that lend itself to great story telling because of its intangibles. It’s one of the most intimate games ever invented; a single person’s battle against the field of play and themselves. A few films that have portrayed this internal conflict brilliantly are Tin Cup and The Legend of Bagger Vance. Seven Days in Utopia may only have had a “hole in one’s” chance to throw itself into that league, but any outside shot vanished three quarters of the way through the film when the writers dumped the golf aspect in favor of an infomercial for God.

Luke Chisholm (Lucas Black, Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) is an up and coming golfer new to the pro tour. During one tournament, he has a very public meltdown on the course and his father/caddy ends up walking out on him during play. Embarrassed, he drives to the middle of nowhere and accidentally drives his car off the road in the very small town of Utopia. There he meets Johnny Crawford (Robert Duvall, Get Low, The Godfather) a one-time pro golfer himself who takes an instant liking to Chisholm and offers to mentor his golf game by teaching him the need of balance in other areas of life.

Sounds at least watchable right? Surely not an original idea but it’s a sports movie with Bobby D acting as a Mr. Miyagi type golf guru, illustrating to Black’s character how to improve his golf swing by taking part in other activities like painting, fly fishing and piloting a small aircraft. The film does come off a little like a Family Channel movie of the week, but the golf seems to be very authentic and detailed information on the mechanics of the sport gives the characters credibility. Duvall and Black’s characters are well thawed out but the supporting cast is mostly just background noise, and a waste of time for an actress like Melissa Leo (The Fighter) who plays Crawford’s best friend Lily. Crawford’s alternative takes on golf are somewhat interesting and Duvall has an amazing ability to gain the immediate trust of the audience. Black has a very limited acting range but he too has that “innocent small-town folk” thing down cold, and plays off of Duvall’s character for just the right chemistry needed.

However then the third act starts and the vacation is over. Yes, the writers hope you enjoyed your stay in Utopia, but now it’s time to sell you that timeshare. And by timeshare I mean God. At least the blatant Callaway endorsements that wallpaper this film are bearable, as sponsorships are a big part of the sport, but when a film flat out abandons its own story to preach a life involving God, integrity has left the theater. Seven Days in Utopia does open by displaying a verse from the Bible, which could be taken as completely innocuous, but then doesn’t mention the subject again until the audience finds themselves swimming in it, looking around for a life saver from Noah.

Normally, the most egregious act a writer can make in a film review is to give away important story elements or, as they are called, “spoilers.” However, this is more of a “buyers beware.” A night out for a family of four to the movies is anything but cheap these days, and before anyone slides their credit card under the ticket window they have at least the right to know what kind of film they’re getting into. Anyone not of the same religious beliefs will be immediately alienated and pulled out of the story when the film becomes baptized, and it should also infuriate moviegoers who thought they had been watching a story about the game of golf.

Duvall’s character spends 80% of the film trying to improve Chisholm’s golf game and then in one fall swoop explains that results or making a put doesn’t even matter. Well maybe that’s true in church or a bible verse, but this started out as a sports film where the ending does matter. Unfortunately the writers decided that the ending was so insignificant compared to their message that they decided to not include it in the actual film at all. Like a GoDaddy.com commercial, the audience is directed to a website to view the conclusion of the story and no doubt some more “life messages.”

What’s incredibly ironic and hypocritical is that a film with a message of the importance of God in one’s life is lacking in the area of honesty. If the writers wanted to present how the lack of God’s presence in Chisholm’s life was detrimental, then the story needed to have more intricate comparisons. Just stating that there are more important aspects of life is weak and lazy, the story needed examples in the character’s backstory as to why this is justified or some kind of conflict within the story itself to make the character realize that life is more than just about winning, instead Chisholm just continually flashes back to moments with his overbearing father and conforms to Crawford’s preaching like he’s just been “healed” by a TV evangelist. In The Legend of Bagger Vance, the subject of God is alluded to, even Will Smith’s character is assumed to be some kind of angel or holy spirit, but the film never derails itself from it’s subject, the game of golf. Seven Days in Utopia could easily have been about bowling as much as it was about golf because its main agenda is not to tell a sports’ story, but instead to convey that people need God in their life.

At least when you get a knock at the door early Sunday morning you know what you’re in for if you answer. But if they were to start using legendary actors like Robert Duvall . . . well that’s just dirty pool.



Story: 4.0
Acting: 6.5
Writing: 5.0
Captivation: 6.0
Replay Value: 3.0

Total = 4.9 out of 10